Thank you for the info on car parks. May I take you up on the offer of a car park space at your place please though if it’s not too much trouble ? I usually walk everywhere if I can, though ten minutes drive is probably a bit too far on foot with luggage! I am a bit wary of leaving the car overnight in a car park particularly when I am far from home.
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Sure… if you find a parking place as near as you can to the house on Friday to unload, then we’ll do a shuttle run up to the house…
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Will do. Diolch yn fawr/Thank you very much.
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Quick question about parking at Slate Quay - the internet suggests the car park is closed between 7pm and 7am. Does that mean no access/exit during those hours, or simply no attendant?
No access, I believe, Jane. I’m not sure if there are bollards, ramps or just a chain across the exit. But I will check for you.
The pictures above have lots of little rampy things on the exit. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if they had nasty tyre-destroying spikes on the car park side…
Looks like we’ll have to be back from any adventures by 7pm, or park in one of the other car parks
I don’t think we’ll be venturing too far - there’s a lot to do in and around Caernarfon, and it’s the de facto status it has as pretty much the capital of Welsh-speaking Wales which attracts us…
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"The pictures above have lots of little rampy things on the exit. "
From Google Earth they look like tilting metal flaps that allow you to drive out at any time through the exit, but not in. They’re quite common in car parks - e.g. the Green in Beaumaris - and I doubt if there’d be any spikes. It won’t help if you want to get in after 7pm!
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Not unless, I have too many drinks. Did I leave out a comma?
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The map is great, thanks!
I’m not ready. No, I don’t just mean, I haven’t packed yet (which is of course true). I don’t feel ready for a whole week of Welsh, is this how everyone else is feeling? How daft am I for signing up for this . My boss has been in Florida this week and people talking about going away to exciting exotic locations, but no, I decided to spend the week in North Wales only able to speak in Welsh (which I’m not very good at). I am very excited too, but I’ve never done anything like this, it’ going to be very strange. So can we put it back a week or something, I’ll know a bit more Welsh by then and it’ll be easier, please?
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That’s an excellent post. Have a look at every other bootcamp thread and you’ll see at least one other similar post, then scroll down to see them same people thrilled at how much Welsh they picked up during the week, how much they enjoyed it and how they have made friends for life. I’m kind of jealous, I won’t ever get to experience that “first bootcamp” thrill again, it’s a truly amazing, life changing experience.
If you want to fly, first you must take a leap over the edge.
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Don’t worry I am definitely feeling out of my comfort zone too!
Just wondering how much this will really help ? I have had so many hopes for a modicum of fluency before. Am ‘trusting the process’, and Aran, as so far SSiW has been a revelation.
Excitement overcoming trepidation at the moment…
See you soon
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I’m on the airplane! I’ll see Wales in a few hours! 
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Gruntius is right!
Everyone else is in the same situation, even if their levels of fluency differ, and facing the same challenges together is fun and, yes, soon becomes exhilarating. You’ll bond with the others, just as you did with your classmates at school, except that there’ll be alcohol to help with the process. At the end of the week you’ll be asking when you can sign up for the next one.
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Nervous bootcampers - can I let you in to a little secret?
I’ve never been to a SSiW bootcamp as a bootcamper. I learnt Welsh before SSiW was born. So I have lots of bad habits when speaking Welsh.
I’m always willing to meet up with and offer help to the Northern bootcampers when the opportunity arises.
And I’m always terrified of talking to them.
Why? Because I worry about you showing up the bad habits I’ve got that you haven’t!
You are all (yes, even you guys with minimum bootcamp level prerequisite) absolutely amazing.
I used to work as a swimming teacher. It’s very hard to teach someone to swim unless they’re in the water. And it’s very hard to learn to speak Welsh without actually speaking Welsh. The way I learnt Welsh was like being thrown into the cold, choppy North Sea in comparison to the SSiW way!
BUT - I know the SSiW bootcamp water is lovely and warm, so jump right in and make splash around - to swim, you have to let go of the wall at some point, and bootcamp is the absolute best point to let go of the I’m-learning-Welsh-wall and embrace the I-speak-some-Welsh-armbands… and by the end of the week, even though you will be tired from the effort, you’ll be able to see how far behind you’ve left that wall - and maybe even those armbands. You’ll be well on the way to the full I-speak-Welsh-racing-costume!
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This…
Anne, y Ddraig Las - nerves are normal, and to be expected - and the adrenaline they help provide is very useful in all sorts of performance/learning…
It’s not going to be an easy week. It’s going to push you and challenge you - but you’ll have support all around you while you throw yourself into the thick of it, and you will have roller-coaster moments of excitement and enjoyment (as well as entertainingly terrifying plunges and twists).
We originally hoped that Bootcamps would be a business model that would let Iestyn and myself be full-time on SSiW. That turned out to be a wildly mistaken belief even in the very first year (when we actually managed to lose money on some of them!).
Even now, if we ran a Bootcamp every single month, it wouldn’t allow us to take anyone else on full-time.
So why are we still doing them?
Because we see, every year, the difference they make…
[A week or so from now, you’ll know what we mean…;-)]
See you tomorrow!
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Pleased to hear about the mild trepidation among some of tomorrow’s bootcampers but also great to have lots of encouraging noises too from old hands.
Re sleeping arrangements - I’ll hold my hand up and admit that I would prefer a single room. I’m a light sleeper and looking forward to a week without a snorer in the room!
In case anyone’s wondering about weather for the week - I think we’ll either be learning or using all of our Welsh meteorological vocab.
See you tomorrow!
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Almost always a handy Bootcamp bonus…
Swotting up on all the -ogs I can think of…
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